When I first became a Christian, I expected that all of my issues would be straightened out and I’d be sorted. But they weren’t – and I’m not. Which made me ask, am I really a Christian? And if so, why am I still so messed up? That’s the theme of my second book, coming out in April. It’s called ‘A New Day,’ and it’s for messy Christians. People (like me), who struggle with hunger anxiety control shame anger and despair. As with A …Read More
Over the years I’ve struggled with anxiety. At its worst, it’s paralysing, leaving me unable to think or move or breathe. Simple tasks feel fraught with danger and overwhelming significance. Little tasks, like chores feel overwhelming. Ask me what’s wrong and I can’t explain. There’s a list of trivialities, but nothing to explain the sense that everything is breaking. So how can I help myself? And how can I (and others like me), be helped? Take me seriously: but not my fears. Anxiety is like a whirlpool …Read More
We were drowning; and no-one knew what to do. The doctor said he couldn’t help. A pastor with more than 20 years of experience said ‘this is too much.’ We felt like giving up; like we’d gone beyond hope. But where the experts failed; ordinary Christians stood in the gaps. Folks like Mike and Heather Ovey; our tutor and his wife. Week after week they invited us into their home and listened to us and prayed with us and made us feel …Read More
Guest post from Glen… Tuesday night, 11:30pm. After 5 hours at A&E, Emma and I were putting a screaming toddler to bed. The doorbell went. “Who could that be?” asked Emma. Somehow I knew. Clarity pierced through the cloud of tiredness, set-upon-ness, and noble sufferer-ness that I’d been nurturing all evening. Suddenly I realised I was guilty – of a crime that, without the doorbell, I’d have blithely ignored. But with the bell came instant conviction. And rest. You see, …Read More
I have mixed feelings about Lent. Part of me wants to throw myself into it with super-human resolve. Part of me fears I’ll do exactly this. I have a long history of eating disorders, depression and perfectionism. Ask me to fast for 40 days and I’ll do forty-one. Tell me to do 40 press-ups and I’ll do 400. I’m all about a certain kind of ‘self-restraint.’ But it’s nearly killed me. You’ll tell me, rightly, that this is not what …Read More
